Tumblher

That’s the issue that is at the heart of my critique. There is no contradiction between your love for an aesthetic based on the restriction of a woman’s movements and being a feminist - apparent or real. I stand by my notion that you qualifying your desire for corsets by proclaiming your feminist beliefs does exactly the opposite. Wanting a corset doesn’t make you LESS of a feminist than it does make someone MORE of a feminist for burning their bra.

I think all the work and hardship that those women who came before you permits both of you to exist - You, the corset-wearing, makeup-donning, heel-clodded woman; Them, “makeup-shunning” and “bra-less”.

If you must constantly reaffirm your allegiance to the feminist cause, even though your actions and your ability to carry out those actions are directly related to the historical success of feminism, then all that hard work hasn’t paid off.

As someone who has been involved with a number of women who claim feminism as one of their guiding stars, and who have also desired/pursued/practiced corset training, seeing another strong young lady struggle with her desires for a corset, feeling like it undoes all the labor of those who came before her, is something i never enjoy witnessing. Nor do i think it’s necessary.

rebel-sweetheart:

transformher:

I think you do a disservice to the feminist dichotomy by specifically having to qualify your desire to tightlace with the fact that you are a feminist. We haven’t accomplished anything if you still have to make allusions to the very movement that allows you to even contemplate such a body alteration in the same breath that you declare your desire to wrap your torso in a corset.

If feminism has been even moderately successful, you should be able to express your interest in corsets without fear of retribution or accusations of sending us back to the “Stone Age”.

If feminism has accomplished even one minor victory, you shouldn’t have to seek absolution from your desires to take full command of your body - even if that command is to achieve a visual that some view as antithetical to the cause.

If feminism has any legs today, you shouldn’t have to constantly reaffirm your belief in it.

For the record, i believe feminism to be alive and thriving. I believe it to be the norm. Which is precisely what its founders intended.

rebel-sweetheart:

okay, i’ll admit it: i have a serious fascination with tightlacing. 

i’m not exactly sure if it’s extreme enough to be classified as a fetish, but i just find extremely small waists really beautiful. i think part of my fascination with tightlacing started off after my body had finally settled into its adult shape and i discovered that i have a fairly small waist naturally (25 inches at last measurement), so part of me wants to push that measurement to see how much smaller i can get it. 

i know it sounds weird that a self-described obnoxious feminist would also be totally in favor of wearing an extremely restrictive corset on a regular basis, but to me the freedom to change my body is exactly why i’m a feminist. i’ve been meaning to buy myself a corset for ages and i had a dream about one the other night, which i guess is why i’m writing this. but i’m not going to get just any corset—i need one that fits my figure exactly how i want it to, and gives me maximum waist reduction. maybe it is kind of a warped ideal of beauty, but i just think there’s something so gorgeous and feminine about a woman with a large bust and hips and a 20-inch waistline. yeah, it’s not an aesthetic shared by many, but i personally think it’s beautiful.

i don’t think i am doing feminism any ‘disservice’—more pointedly, i am remarking on the apparent contradiction of being a feminist and yet loving an aesthetic ideal that specifically restricts a woman’s physical movements and the irony of the interplay between my enjoyment of being mentally liberated yet physically incapacitated. 

i should not have to ‘qualify’ my statement, nor was i really attempting to. i just find the interplay between my body and mind something to take note of, especially in an era that recognizes feminism but still sees a lot of internalized misogyny (the amount of times i’ve heard, ‘you’re not a real feminist, you wear dresses too much’…ugh.)

i’m just as much as a feminist as any makeup-shunning braless woman out there, but often i feel that feminine feminists get a bad rap as not being as ‘dedicated’ or ‘progressive’ as their more stereotyped feminist counterparts, and it’s something i’ve always had to fight against. i am gonna wear my makeup and my high heels, and if anyone thinks that makes me weaker or any less of a feminist, i will run you down and plant the bottom of my stiletto right in your ignorant ass.

(Source: sylvia-scarlett, via sylvia-scarlett)